System and method for the management of credit-debit operations in accounts related to telecommunications services

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for the management of telecommunication services provided by an operator to users and of telecommunication services, the method comprising: assigning a subscriber network identifier (IS) to each subscribed user; monitoring inbound communications toward the subscriber network identifiers (IS) assigned to subscribed users; creating, by virtue of means for creating and managing virtual accounts, a virtual account (CV) registered to each network identifier originating communications (IC); informing, by virtue of information means, at least the user or of telecommunication services who originates the communication toward the subscriber network identifier (IS) and/or the registrant of the network identifier originating communications (IC) of the existence and/or balance of the virtual account (CV). The telecommunication service management system comprises means for implementing the method.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a system and a method for themanagement of telecommunication services and to a method for creating avariable and progressively incremental group of users oftelecommunication services provided by an Operator.

The expression “telecommunication services” is understood to referencein general any process based on the exchange of information betweenremote users of one or more operators, in which a first user begins theprocess by sending a “call” to establish communication with at least onesecond user.

These services can be for example of the type of telephony,videotelephony, or others.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known that an increasing number of telecommunication serviceoperators intend to acquire new customers by launching massiveadvertising campaigns in order to announce to potential users thebenefits they would have if they became their clients. These benefitscan be of the one-off financial (for example a sign-up bonus), recurring(for example a discount on any subscription tariffs) or tariff-related(for example, tariff discounts for outbound calls).

In some cases, the incentives also relate to inbound calls; theoperator's subscriber is granted a discount/bonus/credit on the basis ofthe number of calls/messages or of the duration of the calls/size of themessages received from callers.

The worldwide user base of these services is served by an extremelylarge number of operators, which compete to acquire users but at thesame time, generally but not exclusively, interconnect their ownnetworks with each other so that the user of one operator can reach theuser of any other operator and vice versa. Each operator assigns to itsown users the numbers/addresses by means of which said users can bereached by other users. Generally, each operator establishes the tariffsfor the calls originating from its own users toward other users; if thecalling party and the called party are not served by the same operator,the operator of the calling party must pay to the operator of the calledparty a tariff for termination of the call on the network of saidoperator.

The dominant compensation mechanism among operators is known as TransitModel and entails that each operator establishes the tariff charged toother operators for terminating calls toward said operator's own users,the so-called Interconnection Tariff.

For example, an Operator A assigns to its users the numbers at whichthey can be reached. Operator A sets the tariffs applied to its ownusers for calls toward other users, and finally Operator A negotiateswith operators B, C and D the Interconnection Tariffs that it will haveto grant them in order to terminate calls toward users of B, C and D,and the Interconnection Tariffs that B, C and D shall have to grant toOperator A in order to terminate calls to users of A.

Termination Tariffs are negotiated among Operators and/or set byregulatory bodies. Termination toward terminals of mobile telephonenetworks tends to be much more expensive than termination towardterminals of fixed telephone networks, which in turn tends to be moreexpensive than termination toward VOIP terminals. In this last case, thecalled user in fact already bears the cost of the connection of his ownterminal to the Internet, and therefore the termination cost borne by anOperator which is also already connected to the Internet issubstantially nil.

The Termination Tariff toward a given fixed or mobile telephone networkcan be a single tariff or can be differentiated into two values, one forpeak periods and one for evening periods and holidays. This is generallythe only element of flexibility of the total amount of the tariff: thereare no mechanisms for changing from call to call the InterconnectionTariff toward a given Number at a given time.

In some cases, the mechanism for compensation among Operators is basedon the Origination Regime, whereby the tariff applied to a calling partywho is a subscribed user of a third-party operator toward one's numbersis decided by the operator on which the call terminates, whichcompensates the operator of the calling party for carrying the callwithin his network. The tariff applied for this transport is typicallyindependent of the tariff applied to the calling party. Since thecalling party generally does not have an existing direct relation withthe operator of the called party, this last operator must almostnecessarily delegate invoicing to the operator of the calling party,which instead has by definition an existing relation with the callingparty.

It should be noted that also in this case, the tariff applied to thecalling party is inflexible: at a given time, only one tariff can beapplied for calls toward a given number and it is not possible to varythe tariff on a call by call basis.

Moreover, in contrast with the Termination Regime, the OriginationRegime is not universally accepted by Operators but is generally usedwithin individual countries and only for particular types of traffic,such as for example dial-up Internet access by means of nongeographicalnumbers.

Since customers of telecommunication services are served by a pluralityof operators, inevitably some of the calls originate from an operatordifferent from the operator on which they terminate. It is thereforeevident that an operator has no way to control at all times and at willthe tariff applied to the calling party, since in the case ofTermination Tariff it is the operator of the calling party that decides,whereas in the less frequent case of the Origination Regime it is notforseen for the called party operator the possibility to vary tariffapplied to the caller a given time, on a call by call basis.

In addition to the practical reasons cited above, which prevent changeinat a given time, on a call by call basis, the tariff applied to thecalling party, in many countries there are regulatory limitations, sinceit is required the end user be able to determine in advance, on thebasis of the called number and of the day/time of day, the tariff forreaching a certain number. These limitations prevent changing at will,at a given time, on a call by call basis, the tariff applied to reach agiven number.

There are know mechanisms for interoperability among networks ofOperators that come close to achieving this goal. For example, in a casein which the calling and called party are served by two differentOperators, it is known how to charge the calls to the called partyinstead of the calling party (toll-free numbers, collect calling) or howto split the cost between the calling party and the called party(service know in Italy as “addebito ripartito” or “shared cost”), or howto charge the costs to a third party, which in some cases pays for thecall in exchange for the insertion of advertising messages. In othercases, mechanisms are described for crediting part of the cost of thecall to third parties with the goal of providing systems for payment tothird parties by charging the telephone bill of the calling party(premium numbers).

However, none of these mechanisms allows for example to vary arbitrarilythe tariff applied for a given call to a given number at a given timewhen the call transits from one Operator to another Operator.

However, an Operator might have the goal and interest in influencing ona call by call basis the tariff applied at a given time to customers ofother Operators who call one of its subscribed users. An operator mighteven find it convenient to establish a direct relationship with users ofother operators.

Moreover, this feature is required in order to optimally provide variousservices, including for example the Follow Me Unique Number service,which is already known.

A Subscriber of the Follow Me Unique Number service generally can bereached by means of a plurality of terminals, such as for example afixed telephone at home, a fixed telephone in the office, a cellularmobile telephone, a fixed VOIP telephone connected to the Internet bymeans of a fixed line, a PC provided with a VOIP client connected to theInternet over a fixed line or wireless link, a mobile telephone or a PDAprovided with a VOIP client connected to the Internet via a wirelesslink.

Thanks to the Follow Me Unique Number service, the Subscriber gives hiscallers a single Unique Number instead of a Number for each of histerminals. Following a call to the Unique Number, the provider of theFollow Me Unique Number service might determine on which terminals theuser is reachable at that given moment and select for example theterminal that entails the lowest cost.

The cost to reach the called party might therefore vary considerably ineach instance, but the inflexibility described above does not allow theprovider of the Follow Me Unique Number service to vary at a givenmoment the tariff applied to calling parties in accordance with theactual cost incurred to reach the called party, so that the provider mayshare with the calling party at least part of the saving realized whenreaching the called party.

In all the cases of known systems, when the calling party is not acustomer of the same operator that provides the Follow Me Unique Numberservice, the provider of the Follow Me Unique Number service in fact hasno way to change the tariff applied to the calling party on a call bycall basis at a given moment toward a given number. Assuming that theTransit Model is used, which maximizes the number of operators withwhich the Follow Me Unique Number service provider can interoperate, theoperator will presumably set the Interconnection Tariff for the numberranges related to Unique Numbers at a value high enough to cover thecost of delivering the call to the recipient in the most expensive case(for example, delivery on a mobile telephone), or at least higher thanthe statistical average of costs, but it has no way to modify the tariffapplied to the calling party when it is possible to reach the recipienton a less expensive terminal. As already noted, this limitation cannotbe overcome even by adopting the origination regime, which would entailthe additional disadvantage of limiting significantly the number ofoperators with which it would be possible to interoperate.

One possible solution to this problem and in general to the problem ofaffecting the tariff applied by a third-party operator to contact one'sown clients, on a call by call basis, is to implement this function inthe mechanisms for interconnection among operators.

However, this would require an agreement among all the Operators whichintend to provide this service to each other and would requireimplementing the function itself.

It is therefore necessary to improve the known system for the managementof telecommunication services with particular regard to tariffing inorder to make it more flexible as well as effective and inexpensive.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the aim of the present invention is to eliminate thedrawbacks noted above in known types of systems and methods for themanagement of telecommunication services by providing a new and improvedmanagement system and method which have maximum efficiency andflexibility in determining the actual costs and the tariffs to beapplied to users.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to overcome thedifficulties arising from the technical and regulatory inflexibilitieswhich prevent the provision of variable tariff charging at a givenmoment, on a call by call basis, toward a given number in a manner whichis simple, transparent and inexpensive.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new system and methodfor the management of improved telecommunication services which allow aconsiderable saving on advertising costs, with consequent positiveeffects on management tariffs and costs.

An important object of the invention is to provide a new and efficientsystem and method for the management of improved telecommunicationservices which facilitates a quick increase in the number of registeredusers at low costs.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new system and methodfor the management of improved telecommunication services which are alsosafe to use, allowing reliable identification of the users who access orwish to access the services.

Another object of the invention is to provide a third-party paymentservice benefitting from the low credit checking costs typical ofsystems based on prepayment by users but at the same time not requiringprior contact between the operator and the user, or even direct contactbetween them in order to make a prepayment.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new system andmethod for the management of improved telecommunication services whichcan be implemented simply and inexpensively in one or more geographicalareas and/or countries with existing means and equipment and withoperations which do not require complicated and time-consuming work orexpensive changes to existing networks.

This aim together with these and other objectives, which will becomebetter apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a new system and method forthe management of improved telecommunication services and by a methodfor creating a progressively incremental variable group of users oftelecommunication services provided by an Operator, according to theinvention, as defined in the appended claims.

A system for the management of telecommunication services according tothe invention comprises a central unit, connection means controlled bysaid central unit in order to establish communications inbound andoutbound communications among terminals of users of telecommunicationservices, means for assigning a subscriber network identifier which areadapted to assign to each subscribed user at least one subscribernetwork identifier which allows to receive communications, and allowingterminating communications toward said subscriber on any of saidtelecommunication terminals; means for monitoring the inboundcommunications toward said subscriber network identifiers in order toidentify the network identifiers originating communications, means forcreating and managing virtual accounts CV which are adapted to managedebit-credit operations, said virtual accounts CV being registerable toeach of the network identifiers originating communications.

According to the invention, it is also provided a method for managingtelecommunication services furnished by an operator to users oftelecommunication services by means of the management system accordingto the invention which comprises: assigning to each subscribed user asubscriber network identifier; monitoring inbound calls toward saidsubscriber network identifiers of subscribed users; creating, by meansof virtual account creation and management means, respective virtualaccounts CV registered with network identifiers originatingcommunications, and optionally informing, via information means, atleast the user of telecommunication services who originates thecommunication toward the subscriber network identifier and/or theassignee of the network identifier originating communications of theexistence and/or balance of the virtual account CV created, registeredto the network identifier originating communications.

The invention also provides a method for creating a variable andprogressively incremental group of users of telecommunication servicesprovided by an operator by assigning subscriber network identifiers,which comprises: acquiring an initial number of subscribed users;assigning to each subscribed user of said initial group of subscribedusers respective subscriber network identifiers; notifying saidsubscriber network identifiers to current and potential users;monitoring inbound communications toward said subscriber networkidentifiers in order to identify network identifiers originating inboundcommunications; creating, as a consequence of a communication originatedfrom one of said network identifiers originating communications towardat least one of the assigned subscriber network identifiers a virtualaccount CV registered to said network identifier originatingcommunications; informing said telecommunication service users of theexistence and/or balance of the virtual account CV registered to thenetwork identifier originating communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention willbecome better apparent from the detailed description of a preferred butnot exclusive embodiment of some examples, illustrated by way ofnon-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a telecommunication service managementsystem according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of exemplifying steps of the generic methodaccording to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of main steps for performing the methodaccording to the invention, with routines which can be run on the systemof FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 to 8 are more detailed diagrams of routines which can be run inthe steps shown in FIG. 3.

WAYS OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the description of the invention and of a preferred but not exclusiveembodiment thereof, the expression “network identifier” is used toreference information which identifies a terminal, groups of terminalsor in general one or more elements of a telecommunications network whichare capable of receiving communications. The communication can be vocal,video, data transmission or other known suitable transmission means.

“The Operator” is understood to be a provider of telecommunicationservices which can assign to one or more users 6 one or more subscribernetwork identifiers IS.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, the invention comprises a system formanaging telecommunication services provided by an operator totelecommunication service users 4, 6 (for explanatory purposes, forexample, the users 6 are the subscribed users of the operator, while theusers 4 are served by other operators); the system comprises a centralunit 1, connection means 2 which are controlled by the central unit 1 inorder to provide inbound and outbound communications between terminals,generally designated by the reference numeral 3 (and designated by thereference numerals 3 a-3 p in the figures), of users 4, 6 oftelecommunication services, means 5 for assigning a subscriber networkidentifier IS which are adapted to assign to each user 4, 6 at least onesubscriber network identifier IS which allows to receive communicationsand terminate communications toward the user on any of thetelecommunication terminals 3, means 7 (steps 1300-1900 of FIG. 4) formonitoring inbound communications toward the subscriber networkidentifiers IS in order to identify the network identifiers originatingcommunications IC, means 8 for creating and managing (step 1800 in FIG.4, step 15100 in FIG. 8) virtual accounts CV, said virtual accounts CVbeing registerable to each of the network identifiers originatingcommunications IC. The means 8 for creating and managing the virtualaccount CV are adapted to manage debit-credit operations.

The expression “virtual account CV” references an account which iscreated and possibly debited and credited without being necessarilyregistered to a juridical or physical person. Usually, accounts such asfor example bank accounts are in fact opened by request of the physicalor juridical person to which they are registered, and the bank knowsfrom the outset the identity of said registrant. In this case, instead,the operator creates the account without knowing the identity of thephysical or juridical person that might have it at his/her disposal andwithout said physical or juridical person asking to create it. Theaccount is instead opened and initially associated with a networkidentifier originating communications IC, and only at a later time mightbe associated with a physical or juridical person.

In the preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, thecentral unit 1 can be provided with equipment such as a singleelectronic computer or also with a plurality of physical and/or logicalunits arranged in a plurality of locations. Each physical unit can beconstituted by a commercially available electronic computer. Theconnection means 2 generically can include telephone networks of anytype in use and/or the Internet, et cetera.

Generally but not exclusively, the connection means 2 for carryingcommunications comprise transmission means, such as for example copperor fiber-optic cables, radio links, that make it possible to carry datastreams which, at the highest levels of the OSI scale (or equivalents),encode both the content of the communication and the control signalsassociated with said communication.

In the field of traditional telephony, the reference standards forcoding voice content are ITU-T G.711 A-law and Mu-Law, while thestandard generally adopted for transmitting call control signals amongtraditional telephony operators is SS7. There are also severalstandards, such as for example ISDN, which are used for signaling andcoding used between the operator and the user terminal.

In the field of audio/video communications over the Internet,communication over the connection media occurs by using the TCP/IPprotocol suite. On top of this suite, several standards are used toencode the signaling and content components of the communication.Protocols for encoding voice content include ITU-T G.711 A-Law and ILBC.In the case of transport over TCP/IP, the encoded audio signal isgenerally encapsulated by an appropriate protocol which managessynchronization and RTP retransmission problems.

For signaling, the most common protocols are SIP and H.323. Someoperators (such as for example Skype) use proprietary standards based onTCP/IP transport in order to provide audio/video communication services.

The central unit 1 is capable of connecting to the connection means 2over which the communications are made by using one or more standards.The central unit 1 controls the connection means 2 in that it reads,receives and/or transmits data from/on said means either directly orindirectly.

The central unit 1 optionally includes transcoding and conversion means(both for signaling and for the media), designated by the referencenumeral 9 in FIG. 1, in order to allow communications even when theencoding standards implemented on the corresponding connection means 2are not the same (for example means for transcoding from G.711 A-Law toILBC, or SS7 ISUP<->SIP conversion).

Moreover, said central unit 1 also includes switching means, designatedby the reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1, which allow to interconnect oneor more communications received in input on the connection means 2 withone or more communications in output on the connection means 2.

The central unit 1 can also include RTP proxying means, which arealready commercially available and can be used to perform switchingfunctions in a distributed manner and to allow communications in casesof connection means on which NAT is used.

The means 5 for assigning a subscriber network identifier IS consist, inone possible implementation, of a routine which can be run on theequipment of the central unit 1 that records the association betweensaid identifier IS and the user 6 in an appropriately provided table ofa database which can be implemented on the central unit 1 (for example“CALLED NUMBERS DATABASE”, shown graphically in the Annexes, which arean integral part of the present description). This table might bepreloaded with all the network identifiers assigned to the operatorand/or with the identifiers that have already been assigned to users byother operators but are the subject of the known procedure of NumberPortability toward the operator. Actual assignment to a user 6 occursonly when in the record of said table that contains an unassignedidentifier it is written to which user 6 said record is associated. Saiddatabase also includes tables which can relate subscribed users 6 toterminals 3 a-3 f.

It should be noted that the term “subscriber” 6 designates a user whohas established a relation with the operator, for example a person whohas taken out a subscription contract with the operator or has purchasedprepaid services of the operator or uses the services of the operatorfor free.

The central unit 1 can also include means 11 which are adapted toindicate to other operators how to route communications toward thesubscriber network identifiers IS. These means are already known topersons skilled in the art.

The means 7 for monitoring inbound communications toward subscribernetwork identifiers IS for identifying the network identifiersoriginating communications IC generally consist of a routine which canbe run on the equipment of the central unit which reads data madeavailable on the connection means 2 in accordance with the encodingstandards of the communication control signals.

Merely by way of non-limiting example, in the case of a telephone callreceived from another operator by way of connection means 2 on whichsignaling is based on the ITU-T Q.931 standard, a routine AR4 performedby the central unit 1 reads the information related to the calloriginating subscriber network identifier IC from the “Calling partyaddress” field. In the case of the SIP standard, this information isavailable in the “From:” field.

Network identifiers are often already disclosed to the public or, ifthey are not already disclosed (for example are new), they are discloseddirectly by the assignees of said identifiers and/or by the Operatorand/or by providers of public directories.

It should be noted that the network identifiers originatingcommunications IC might not be available and, if available, might be thesubject of rewriting or spoofing. In general, however, the availabilityand reliability of this information is extremely high.

As already mentioned, the system according to the invention comprisesmeans 8 for creating and managing virtual accounts CV which can beregistered to each of the network identifiers originating communicationsIC.

Virtual accounts CV consist usually of records which are contained, in apreferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, in a databaseDB-CV (for example “CALLING PARTY DATABASE”, table“CALLINGPARTYACCOUNTS”, in the annexes), implemented on the equipment ofthe central unit 1, and in which at least one credit amount andoptionally the nature of the associated credit or credits are stored foreach virtual account CV.

Therefore, the means 8 for creating and managing virtual accounts CVusually consist of routines which can be run on the equipment of thecentral unit 1 which generates, modifies and optionally deletes therecords cited above.

The credit contained in said created accounts, i.e., the virtualaccounts CV, can include one or more among cash funds, points, “frequentcaller minutes” and in general any other measurable and/or exchangeableand/or convertible value means.

The subscriber network identifiers IS and the network identifiersoriginating communications IC may be a set of information such as anyamong an ITU E.164 telephone number, an alphanumeric string such as ane-mail address or an RFC 3261 SIP URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)address, or one or more ideograms such as a Chinese instant messagingaddress, and in general a set of information which identifies evenindirectly terminals 3 of the telecommunications network, groups ofterminals or in general one or more elements of a telecommunicationsnetwork capable of receiving communications.

In the particular preferred but not exclusive embodiment of theinvention, the subscriber network identifier IS might be a singlesubscriber network identifier IS, such as a single telephone number,which allows the termination of all inbound calls toward one among aplurality of telecommunication terminals 3 a-3 f, such as fixedtelephones, mobile telephones, VOIP terminals and/or accounts, andvoicemail services. For example, the subscriber of the operator mightwish to be reachable by means of a single telephone number even ifhe/she has, or has access to, a plurality of telephones.

In this case, for example, in the preferred but not exclusive embodimentof the invention, the system can comprise means 12 (or 600 in FIG. 3, orsteps 2000-3300 in FIG. 5) for selective termination of an inboundcommunication which, by means of a preset algorithm (AR0) establish asequence of priorities among the terminals 3 of the subscriber 6 andwhich, also on the basis of this sequence, terminates the communicationon one of the terminals 3.

The algorithm AR0 is advantageously preset, in a preferred but notexclusive embodiment, to be adapted to minimize termination costs bygiving higher priority to the terminals 3 that have the lowesttermination costs. The algorithms mentioned above can be implemented bymeans of routines which can be run on the equipment of the central unit1.

The telecommunication terminals 3 a-3 f of each subscriber 6 might be atleast two terminals among fixed telephones, mobile/cellular telephones,fixed telephones with VOIP, Internet terminals with VOIP,mobile/cellular telephones with VOIP, videotelephony terminals, and anyother terminal suitable to receive data by telecommunication.

It is possible that within the scope of the embodiments in which theinvention can be provided, each of the terminals 3 a-3 f, 3 g-3 p mightbe assigned a specific network identifier, so that said terminal can bereached and/or identified either by means of a single subscriber networkidentifier IS/network identifier originating communication IC or bymeans of its respective specific network identifier.

Means 13 (step 7450 of FIG. 7, step 15000 of FIG. 8) for tariffcalculation are further provided which are adapted to calculate adifference between what can be and/or is invoiced for a communication bythe operator that supplies the telecommunication services and the costto the operator for terminating the communication.

For the sake of nonlimiting description, it is assumed that operationsoccur in a Termination Tariff regime.

In the case of costs higher than the revenue, the difference might benegative. The calculation means 13 can intervene not only once thecommunication has ended, but also during a communication, or beforesetting up a communication, once the tariff to reach the terminal 3 onwhich the communication would be terminated is known. In this last case,the purpose of preventive tariff checking might be to optionally notterminate communications in case of a negative difference (costs higherthan revenue).

In the case of a communication toward one's own subscriber networkidentifier IS which originates from another operator, the main componentthat can be invoiced is the interconnection tariff negotiated with theoriginating operator for the termination of communications toward one'ssubscriber network identifiers IS.

In the case instead of a communication originating from one's ownsubscriber 6, the main component is what the operator can invoice to theuser 6 who originates the communication. In some cases, there is also acomponent which can be invoiced to the user 6 to whom is assigned thesubscriber network identifier IS recipient of the communication.

The costs for terminating communications might be internal, in the caseof a terminal 3 connected to the operator's own network, or can alsoinclude costs to be paid to other operators, for example if it isnecessary for the communication to transit or terminate throughthird-party operators. It should in fact be noted that the subscribernetwork identifier IS might correspond to one or more terminals 3 whichbelong to other operators or to a terminal 3 which belongs to theoperator's own network but at that time is reachable only by roaming ona network of a third-party operator, thus entailing in any case atransit/termination cost.

Usually, all tariffs related to costs and revenues are applied on thebasis of the extent of the communication. In the case of telephony, forexample, they are a function of the duration of the call. This makes iteasy to establish beforehand whether the difference between costs andrevenue of a communication would be positive or negative before itoccurs, regardless of its actual duration, simply by comparing thetariffs related to costs and revenues.

The calculation means 13 include routines for measuring the actualextent of the communication during and at the end of said communication(in the case of a telephone call, the duration) and routines which, atthe end of the communication, on the basis of its extent, of thecontractual terms and of other possible variables such as the time andthe day when the communication begins and/or ends, calculates the amountthat can be invoiced by the operator, the costs incurred by the operatorand the difference between the two.

At least part of this difference might be credited to the virtualaccount CV which may be registered to the network identifier originatingcommunications IC. In other words, by way of non-limiting example, thevirtual accounts CV are credited by the differences between costs andrevenues generated by communications originated from users 4 or 6 whenthey call the subscribers 6 of the operator, and the virtual accounts CVmay be registered to the network identifiers originating communicationsIC which can be associated with the calling users 4 or 6, with whom theoperator does not necessarily have any previously established relation(the users 4).

The difference increases as the termination costs toward the operator'sown subscribers 6 decreases. For example, in the case of telephone callsterminated via the Internet on VOIP equipment, the termination cost issubstantially nil.

The crediting of at least part of the difference on virtual accounts CVwhich may be associated with the calling users 4 or 6, can be used toencourage the calling users 4 who do not have a previously establishedrelation with the operator to come into direct contact with saidoperator so as to be able to access the credit, and the operator mightuse this contact to encourage said users 4 to become its, optionallyproviding access to the credit only to those who become subscribed users6.

Optionally, the operator can reserve part of the difference to his owncalled subscribed user 6, so as to give him an incentive to make himselfas much as possible available on the terminals 3 that entail the lowesttermination costs.

Finally, it should be noted that if the operator does not block callswhich entail a negative difference (costs higher than revenues), theoperator might in any case terminate the calls by drawing the differencefrom credit accumulated in the virtual account CV associated with thenetwork identifier originating communications IC.

In the preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, thesystem according to the invention further comprises means 14 forinforming of the existence and/or balance of the virtual account, whichare adapted to inform, by means of audio and/or spoken and/or visualmessages, the user 4 or 6 originateing the call of the existence and/orbalance of said virtual account CV (steps 4200, FIG. 6; steps 6200,7600, 7650, FIG. 8; steps 15600, 16200, 16400, 16600, 16800, 17000, FIG.8).

The expression “balance of the virtual account CV” is used to referencethe amount of the credit contained in the virtual account CV.

Said means 14 for informing of the existence and/or balance of thevirtual account can consist of AR3 routines, which in the case of atelephone call plays back audio information before establishing the callbetween the called party and the calling party, by way of non-limitingexample, in the case of the SIP protocol in the “Early Media” step or,in the case of an ISDN ITU-T Q.931 protocol with complete selectionprior to CONNECT, therefore even before the tariff charging of said callbegins, or as soon as the call is established, or during the call, or atthe end of the call, after the called party hangs up, before the callingparty hangs up, or even at a later time.

If the user 6 who is the recipient of the conversation is not reachablebut has voicemail service, the means 14 for informing of the existenceand/or balance of the virtual account may include an AR7 routine whichmay communicate the information in an audio format in a particularlyeffective manner, since the messages might be inserted in the voicemenus of the voicemail service, on which the operator has discretionarypower.

Moreover, both for telephone calls and for any other type ofcommunication, the means 14 for informing of the existence and/orbalance of the virtual account which inform the originating user of theexistence and/or balance of the virtual account CV can include a routinewhich communicates this information by sending an SMS AR11, an e-mailAR8, an instant message AR12, a traditional or VOIP telephone call AR9,a traditional postal written message AR10, mass communications such aspromotional messages via television/radio/press, or person-to-personcommunications.

The addresses to which said communications are to be sent can beobtained by virtue of address search means 15 (FIG. 1), which consist ofroutines which query appropriately provided databases such as telephonedirectories, electronic directories such as DNS, ENUM, so as to find theaddress or addresses and optionally the identities of the actualowners/users and/or entities which pay the invoices related to thenetwork identifiers originating communications IC.

All the routines mentioned above can be run on the equipment of thecentral unit 1.

The means 5 for assigning a subscriber network identifier IS mightentail selection of the subscriber network identifier IS among newnetwork identifiers or network identifiers which were previouslyassigned, for example by other operators.

In the second case, the procedure for transferring a subscriber networkidentifier IS from one operator to another is commonly known as NumberPortability and the means to perform it are well-known to personsskilled in the art.

The means 14 for informing of the existence and/or balance of thevirtual account which can be registered to a network identifieroriginating communications might be used in combination with means 17for assigning an appropriate operator service network identifier IOdedicated to this purpose, fully similar to the means 5 alreadydescribed above, and means 18 for identifying the network identifiersoriginating communications IC toward said appropriately providedoperator service network identifier IO fully similar to the means 7described above.

In other words, the system according to the invention includesassignment means 17, by way of which the operator sets up an appropriateoperator service network identifier IO, such as for example a dedicatedtelephone number which, once called, provides automatically to thecalling party information regarding the virtual account CV associatedwith the number of the calling party.

In a possible constructive variation, the system according to theinvention further comprises means 19 for receiving instructions fordebiting/crediting at least one virtual account CV. The system mightalso include means 20 for calculating according to preset criteria anycommission to be applied to the beneficiary of the credit, means 21 fordeducting this commission calculated by means 20 from the credit to becredited to the beneficiary, means 22 for calculating according topreset criteria any commission to be applied to the one imparting thecrediting instructions, means 23 for checking availability on thevirtual accounts CV to be debited of credit equal to or greater than thecrediting to be debited, optionally with the addition of the commissioncalculated by the means 22, means 24 for drawing debits at least on saidvirtual accounts CV; means 25 for crediting said operator, other virtualaccounts CV or third parties; and means 26 for notifying the beneficiaryand/or to the person who gave the credit instructions on the outcome.

The system according to the invention therefore includes, in avariation, also the means for allowing entities to have at theirdisposal for example funds accumulated in the virtual accounts CV inorder to make payments. At the same time, the invention includes themeans to allow the operator to calculate and apply commissions to theparties who order the credit and/or benefit from the credits so as to beable be compensated for the service provided. Finally, the inventionincludes the means for checking the availability of sufficient credit toperform the required crediting.

Some of the means 19-25 cited above are already known and used bycompanies which provide financial services, such as banks, online banks,credit cards companies and electronic and/or online payment systemscompanies, however at least part of the credit used to enact thedebiting is accumulated by way of the means described so far in virtualaccounts CV created with the means described so far.

In particular, the means 19 for receiving debit/credit instructionsinclude web sites, ATMs, automatic IVR telephone systems, call centers,physical sites with personnel assigned to receiving instructions fromclients. In this specific case, means are included for indicating thenetwork identifier originating communications/identifiers IC to whichthe virtual accounts CV from which credit is to be drawn refer to.

The means 20 and 22 for calculating the commission to be applied to thebeneficiary of the credit and the commission to be applied to whoeverimparts the credit are therefore among known ones and consist generallybut not exclusively of routines which, on the basis of conditions agreedbeforehand with the involved parties and on the basis of the amount ofthe credit and of any other variables, apply appropriate calculationalgorithms.

The means 21 for deducting the commission applied to the beneficiary arefully similar to the ones used by companies which manage credit cards,and consist generally but not exclusively of routines which subtract theamount calculated by the means 20 from the amount to be credited to thebeneficiary.

The means 23 for checking the availability of sufficient credit on thevirtual account CV to perform the ordered credit are similar to thoseused by banks and companies which manage credit cards, and in this caseconsist of a routine which accesses the database DB-CV and which, foreach network identifier originating communications IC, reads the amountof accumulated credit and compares said amount with the credit to bedebited, either net or including the commissions to be applied.

The means 24 for debiting the virtual accounts CV consist of a routinewhich accesses the database DB-CV which stores the amount of accumulatedcredit that corresponds to each network identifier originatingcommunications IC, reads said amount, reduces it by the amount equal tothe debit to be made, and replaces in the database table the amountstored previously with the new amount calculated as described above.

The means 25 for crediting third parties are similar to the ones alreadyused presently in financial transactions. For example, in the case of afunds transfer, the means can consist of a routine which, given theamount and the details of the accounts to be debited and credited,manages the communication with the information systems of one's own bankso as to make said funds transfer.

However, in the case the operator itself and/or other virtual accountsCV are to be credited, said means 25 for crediting third parties mightbe bypassed completely, since there is not necessarily a flow of creditbetween the systems of the operator and third-party systems.

Moreover, in case another virtual account CV is to be credited, themeans 25 can consist of a routine which accesses the database DB-CVwhich stores, for each network identifier originating communications IC,the amount of accumulated credit, reads the amount related to thevirtual account CV corresponding to the credit recipient, increments itby the amount of the credit to be made, and stores in the database DB-CVthe amount previously stored with the new amount calculated as describedabove.

Finally, the means 26 for notifying the outcome to the beneficiaryand/or to the issuer of the order include a routine which readiescommunications in written, visual, audio or video format and by thecorresponding communications means, such as for example e-mail, Web,telephone call, instant message, SMS, traditional mail message,person-to-person communication.

In one embodiment, the system according to the invention also includesimplementation means, generally but not exclusively provided by virtueof routines which implement already-known algorithms for transactionaldatabase management, so that the simultaneous occurrence of operationson a same account and in general on a same data item stored in adatabase may not thwart the aim of the means described so far.

All the routines mentioned above can be run on the equipment of thecentral unit 1.

The system according to the invention might also comprise, in a possibleembodiment, verification means 27 for determining the “associableentities” with which a network identifier originating communications ICcan be associated.

Moreover, the system according to the invention might also include means28 for granting “associable entities” selective access to one or morevirtual accounts CV for the purpose of imparting orders and/orretrieving account information, also on the basis of the informationprovided by the verification means 27, and means 29 for limiting accessonly to selectively authorized “associable entities” to one or morevirtual accounts CV for imparting orders and/or retrieving accountinformation

In other words, for each virtual account CV the operator might have theneed to limit the possibility to perform crediting operations only tosome “associable entities”, for example only to the entities that can beassociated with the network identifier originating communications ICrelated to that particular virtual account CV.

It should be noted that the operator has the prerogative of choosingwhether, and which of, these and other criteria are to be used to limitaccess to a given virtual account CV and to change over time whether,and which of, these criteria are to be used to grant access each virtualaccount CV, even according to preset sequences.

The term “entity” is used to reference a physical or juridical person.

The expression “associable entity” is used to reference the entity towhich a network identifier originating communications IC is assignedand/or registered and/or which uses said identifier and/or which paysthe corresponding invoices and/or has some form of entitlement to saidnetwork identifier originating communications IC.

The verification means 27 for establishing the “associable entities”associable with a network identifier originating communications IC caninclude means such as a fax, traditional mail, e-mail to receive a copyof at least one invoice or other third-party document which can belinked to the network identifier originating communications IC to whichthe virtual account CV is registered, and even manual verification meansto ascertain that the invoice and/or document can actually be tracedback to the specific network identifier originating communications IC.

The verification means 27 can also be automatic and can consist ofentity searching means 30, similar to the address searching means 15,i.e., routines that trace the entities to which network identifiersoriginating communications IC have been assigned by queryingappropriately provided databases such as for example telephonedirectories, electronic directories such as DNS, ENUM, etc.

The means 28 for selectively authorizing entities to access one or morevirtual accounts CV for imparting orders and/or for obtaining accountinformation are fully similar to the ones currently used to authorizethis type bank account access, and consist generally but not exclusivelyof procedures and means of communication for establishing and/orexchanging beforehand credentials such as IDs, passwords, PINs,cards/keys, or for the preliminary acquisition of biometric data,subsequently requested by access limiting means 29.

In the preferred embodiment, for a given virtual account CV, theauthorizing means 28 are applied in order to authorize only thoseentities that the verification means 27 have established as “associableentities” associated with the network identifier originatingcommunications IC to which said virtual account CV corresponds.

The means 29 for limiting access to authorized entities for impartingorders and/or obtaining information to/from one or more virtual accountsCV are already known and consist generally but not exclusively of thesame means currently used to limit access to online banking means andATMs. They are generally but not exclusively based on routines whichrequire and/or check credentials such as IDs, passwords, PINs, cookies,cards/keys, biometric data or data based on physical checks.

In the case of access requests received by electronic means, it ispossible to simplify the checking procedure and simultaneously increaseits security by way of means 16 for acquiring the requesting networkidentifier originating communications IC fully similar to the monitoringmeans 7 and therefore can be loaded as a specific routine on centralunit 1. In this manner, the originator of the call does not have toenter his network identifier manually. Moreover, for greater security,means can be included for verifying the match between the networkidentifiers originating communications IC for ordering the creditingoperations and the network identifiers originating communications IC towhich the virtual accounts CV subjected to orders correspond.

The use of the verification means 27 might be limited only to the firstdebit request for a given virtual account CV, since once it has beenestablished that a given entity can be associated with one or morenetwork identifiers originating communications IC, the operator canprovide said entity with selective authorization for imparting ordersand/or obtaining account information to/from the virtual account oraccounts CV that correspond to the network identifier originatingcommunications/identifiers IC (by virtue of the authorization means 28),and from then onward the entity can surpass the access limitationprocedures implemented by the access limitation means 29.

The verification means 27 can be used proactively to identify beforehand“associable entities” which can be associated with network addressesoriginating communications IC, and therefore the authorizing means 28can be used proactively to exchange the corresponding credentials withsaid entities even before they contact the operator and/or to report tosaid entities the existence and/or balance of the virtual accounts CVrespectively associable with said entities by virtue of communicationstoward addresses of any kind, for example post, e-mail, IM, which can bereasonably traced to said entities, which in turn are obtained by virtueof the already described address searching means 15, or by sending amessage to terminals 3 for each of which a third party certifies who isthe associable entity (for example SMS to mobile telephone).

Moreover, the system according to the invention can compriseinterchangeability means 31 in order to allow the interchangeability,within the central unit, of all the equivalent network identifiersoriginating communications IC and subscriber network identifiers IS.

For the purpose of the description of the means 31, the expression“equivalent” network identifiers references the various representationsof a same network identifier originating communications IC and/orsubscriber network identifier IS. For example, a telephone number can berepresented with or without the prefix part, such as the country codeand/or area code, but the various representations are equivalent to thesame number. It is understood that the various variations of a networkidentifier originating communications IC which include fields left atthe discretion of the registrant are also equivalent. For example, acompany with several telephone extensions might be the registrant of thetelephone number +39 02 4381 9xy, where x and y are numeric fields leftat its discretion. The various network identifiers related to thevarious extensions can be associated with the corresponding root and aretherefore equivalent in terms of this definition.

The expression “equivalent network identifiers” is understood to alsodesignate network identifiers originating communications IC and/orsubscriber network identifiers IS which are completely different fromeach other but can be associated (according to the definition alreadygiven of “associable entity”) with a same entity because they areassigned to it. For example, a same company might be the registrant of atelephone number and of a fax number which are completely different.

In other words, the operator might have an interest, when possible, toconsider as a one the network identifiers originating communications ICand/or subscriber network identifiers IS which are equivalent and/orassociable with a same entity, because in this case the operator mightfor example create and manage a single virtual account CV instead ofseveral accounts.

The interchangeability means 31 can include: a routine 32 fornormalizing network identifiers, always including all the prefix parts,always using the same format, such as for example the internationalformat of telephone numbers; a routine 33 for selecting the networkidentifiers originating communications IC and/or the network identifierscontacted successfully by the operator's own users 6 or valididentifiers obtained from other sources of valid identifiers (forexample telephone directories) and storing them in an appropriatelyprovided database DB-N (which can be implemented for example on thecentral unit 1), with the information regarding the registrant, ifavailable; a routine for populating the database DB-N with valid networkidentifiers; a routine 34 for associating and updating an expirationtime with each network identifier is present in DB-N, and forimplementing deletion of records that exceeded said expiration time;routines for deleting from the database DB-N the network identifiersafter a certain period of time has elapsed since the last time whencalls originated from said identifier or terminated successfully towardsaid identifier were recorded; a routine 35 for establishing whether anetwork identifier originating communications IC which is already knownin the database DB-N populated and updated with the routines 33 and 34is a subpart of a longer network identifier originating communicationsIC (for example, in the case of telephone numbers, to recognize that+390243819 is a subpart of +390243819338 and therefore the latter istraceable back to the former); a routine for recognizing whether anetwork identifier is traceable back to a root which is present in thedatabase DB-N of valid numbers and is therefore equivalent to associablewith the root; routines 36 which correlate the network identifiersoriginating communications IC associable with the same entities by usingthe data read and/or stored above and/or on the basis of datacorrelating network identifiers originating communications IC toentities, obtained by means of the entity searching means 30 androutines which query telephone directories, DNS and ENUM databases inorder to establish whether two or more network identifiers are traceableback to the same entity.

Finally, it should be noted that if a communication originates from anetwork identifier originating communications IC of a subscriber of theoperator toward a subscriber network identifier IS of the operator, thenetwork identifier originating communications IC is in turn a subscribernetwork identifier IS and the two are fully equivalent to each other.

The invention further comprises a method for managing telecommunicationservices provided by an operator to telecommunication service users 4, 6by means of a management system described above, which includes stepsfor: assigning to each subscribed user 6 a subscriber Network IdentifierIS by way of the assignment means 5; monitoring inbound calls towardsaid subscriber network identifiers IS of subscribed users 6 by way ofthe monitoring means 7; creating, by way of virtual account creation andmanagement means 8, a virtual account CV which is registered to anetwork identifier originating communications IC. Provisions are alsomade for informing, by way of information means 14, at least thetelecommunication service user 6 that originates the communicationtoward the subscriber network identifier IS and/or the registrant of thenetwork identifier originating communications IC of the existence and/orbalance of the virtual account CV.

The step for assigning a subscriber network identifier IS can comprisethe assignment to the subscribed user 6 of a single subscriber networkidentifier IS, such as a single telephone number, which allowstermination of inbound calls toward one among a plurality oftelecommunication terminals 3 a-3 f, such as fixed telephones, mobiletelephones, VOIP terminals and/or accounts, voicemail services.

In addition, the method can comprise steps for selecting, by way of themeans 12 for selective termination of inbound calls, telecommunicationterminals 3 a-3 f for termination of inbound communications according toa preset algorithm AR0; selecting, by way of the means 12 for selectivetermination of the inbound communications, among said telecommunicationterminals 3 a-3 f selected in the preceding step only thetelecommunication terminals 3 on which the subscribed user 6 can bereached by the inbound call, and terminating said inbound communicationon a preferred telecommunication terminal 3 among the ones selected inthe preceding step.

The step for selecting the inbound communication termination terminals 3according to a preset algorithm can include a step for establishing apriority sequence according to termination costs.

The method can comprise calculating, by virtue of tariff calculationmeans 13, a difference between what is/can be invoiced by the operatorfor a communication received from a network identifier originatingcommunications IC and the cost to the operator for terminating saidcommunication. This calculation step can be followed by the step forcrediting to the virtual account CV registered to said networkidentifier originating communications IC funds which correspond to allor part of the difference calculated in the preceding step, a fixedvalue assigned by the operator for each minute of conversation occurringas a consequence of the inbound communication, a fixed value which isestablished arbitrarily by the operator regardless of whether aconversation occurs or not.

In the scope of the method according to the invention, it is alsopossible to perform steps for informing at least the user 4 or 6 whooriginates the communication having a given network identifieroriginating communications IC, by way of the information means 14, ofthe amount of credit which is the result of the funds credited to thevirtual account CV registered to said network identifier originatingcommunications IC and also to assign, by way of the assignment means 5,to a new subscribed user 6 a new subscriber network identifier IS.

Therefore, a subscribed user 4 of another operator, which might beassociable with a network identifier originating communications IC towhich a virtual account CV is registered, might obtain from the operatora subscriber network identifier IS, for example a telephone number, andbecome a subscriber 6 of the operator.

Other steps can also be provided to allow the subscribed user 6 to whichthe subscriber network identifier IS has been assigned to report to theoperator a list of his telecommunication terminals 3 where he can bereached by means of a single subscriber network identifier IS assignedto him, and to associate said telecommunication terminals 3 to thesingle subscriber network identifier IS of the user. Said steps for listreporting and association of a single identifier can be performed beforethe monitoring step begins.

In other words, as part of the supply to the subscriber 6 of a Follow MeUnique Number service for being reached on a plurality of terminals 3,the subscriber 6 can report to the operator the list of the terminals 3that must be linked to the Unique Number. It should be noted that thiscommunication might occur before the supply of the Follow Me UniqueNumber service begins, but also after, so as to be able to add/removeterminals 3.

In a specific step it is possible to select the subscriber networkidentifier IS to be assigned, among previously unassigned networkidentifiers and previously assigned network identifiers.

For example, new subscribers of the operator might “carry” telephonenumbers which have already been assigned to them by other operators ontothe network of the operator as in the already-known Number Portabilityprocedure.

Other steps of the method can comprise the assignment of an appropriateoperator service network identifier IO and the reporting to a user 4, 6of telecommunication services which originates a communication towardsaid appropriately provided operator service network identifier IO ofthe existence and/or balance of the virtual account CV registered to thenetwork identifier originating communications IC.

It is also possible to have steps such as receiving orders fordebiting-crediting said virtual account CV imparted by entitiesassociable with said virtual account CV, establishing with which of theentities cited above the cited network identifier originatingcommunications IC is actually associable, and rendering interchangeable,within the central unit of the telecommunication services managementsystem, all the network identifiers originating communications IC andthe subscriber network identifiers IS which are equivalent.

All said steps can be managed flexibly and repeated if necessary for theapplication of the new method described here, since they can beperformed in a cyclic manner.

One might thus create a virtuous circle, by mens of which, starting froma limited number of subscribed users 6, said subscribers 6 are called bytheir callers, which initially would be to a large extent subscribers 4of other operators, virtual accounts CV are created which are registeredto the network identifiers (telephone numbers) assigned to thecorrespondents 4 of the operator's own subscribers 6. Said virtualaccounts CV are supplied with part of the difference between the costand the revenues that the operator incurs in terminating the callstoward its own users 6. The calling users 4, 6 are notified of theexistence of the virtual account CV and therefore they come into contactwith the operator and in turn become subscribers 6, in turn obtaining atelephone number from the operator and in turn being called by theircorrespondents, and so forth.

This solution is advantageously defined, within the scope of theinvention, as a new method for constituting a progressively incrementalvariable group of users 6 of telecommunication services provided by anoperator by assigning subscriber network identifiers IS.

In a preferred but not exclusive embodiment, this method comprises stepsfor acquiring an initial number of subscribed users 6; assigning to eachsubscribed user 6 of said initial group of subscribed users respectivesubscriber network identifiers IS; notifying the subscriber networkidentifiers IS to current and potential users 4, 6; monitoring inboundcalls toward said subscriber network identifiers IS in order to identifyinbound network identifiers originating communications IC; creating,following a communication originated from a said network identifieroriginating communications IC toward at least one of the assignedsubscriber network identifiers IS, a virtual account CV which isregistered to said network identifier originating communications IC; andinforming said users 4, 6 of telecommunication services of the existenceand/or balance of the virtual account CV registered to the networkidentifier originating communications IC.

This method with management optimization goals, both in terms of theequipment required and used for an ever-increasing number of users 6 andin economic terms, is based practically on the same components of thesystem and steps similar to the ones mentioned above in relation to thetelecommunication services management system and method.

Accordingly, it also comprises informing of the existence and/or balanceof the virtual account CV registered to the network identifieroriginating communications IC at least the user 4, 6 oftelecommunication services which is the registrant of said networkidentifier originating communications IC.

The step for assigning subscriber network identifiers IS might comprisethe assignment to the subscriber 6 of a single subscriber networkidentifier IS which allows the termination of calls toward it on any ofa plurality of telecommunication terminals 3.

Moreover, steps are also provided for selecting, by way of the means 12for selective termination of inbound communications, the terminals 3 onwhich the inbound communication is to be terminated according to apreset algorithm AR0; selecting, by way of the means 12 for selectivetermination of inbound communications, among said terminals 3 selectedin the preceding step, only the telecommunication terminals 3 on whichthe subscriber 6 can receive the inbound communications; and terminatingsaid inbound communication on a telecommunication terminal 3 among theones selected in the preceding step.

As in the management method described above, the preset algorithm AR0might be set to perform operations in order to minimize terminationcosts by establishing a sequence of priorities on the basis oftermination costs.

The present method for creating the progressively incremental group ofusers can also include one or more of the steps for calculating, by wayof tariff calculation means 13, a difference between what can be and/oris invoiced for a communication by the operator and the cost to theoperator for terminating said inbound communication; crediting on saidvirtual account CV funds which correspond to all or part of thedifference calculated in said calculation step, a fixed value assignedby the operator for each minute of conversation occurring as aconsequence of the inbound communication, and a fixed value which isestablished arbitrarily by the operator regardless of whether acommunication occurs or not; informing the user who originates thecommunication, by way of said information means 14, of the amount of thecredit resulting from the funds credited on the virtual account CV; andsteps for incrementing the number of subscribed users 6 who are users 4,6 of the telecommunication services with subscriber network identifiersIS by affiliation to the group of subscribed users 6 of new users, towhich new subscriber network identifiers IS are assigned according to anew step for assigning a subscriber network identifier IS; subsequentlycontinuing with a new step for notifying the newly assigned subscribernetwork identifiers IS to current and potential users 4, 6.

As in the case of the previously described management method, thedescribed steps can be repeated cyclically every time an inboundcommunication from a network identifier originating communications ICoccurs toward one of the subscribed users 6 which has a registeredsubscriber network identifier IS.

In the present method it is also possible to associate steps forreporting to the operator, on the part of the subscribed user 6 who hasbeen assigned a single subscriber network identifier IS, a list of thetelecommunication terminals 3 on which he will be reachable by means ofsaid single subscriber network identifier IS, and steps for associatingsaid telecommunication terminals 3 with the single subscriber networkidentifier IS, which can be performed before starting each step fornotifying the subscriber network identifiers IS to potential users 4, 6.

The step for creating the virtual account CV can comprise the creationof a virtual account CV which is registered to a potential user 4outside the group of subscribed users 6 even before said potential useroriginates a communication toward a subscriber network identifier IS.

A variation is thus provided in this method also, according to which avirtual account CV is created even before the potential user 4, 6originates a communication toward a subscriber network identifier IS,for example only on the basis of the knowledge of the existence of anetwork identifier managed by another operator.

Moreover, it is possible to provide for the creation of virtual accountsCV which are registered to subscriber network identifiers IS of the sameoperator.

This is particularly useful in a step in which the operator has acquireda good market share and therefore a substantial percentage of thecommunications toward its own subscribed users 6 originate from othersubscribed users 6 of said operator. In this case, it is nonethelessimportant to credit the operator's own subscribed calling users 6 withpart of the difference between costs and revenue for terminatingcommunications, in order to prevent one's own subscribed users 6 fromswitching to any other operator that might implement the methoddescribed here. In this case, after the step for creating the virtualaccount CV, the subsequent already-described steps are performed, fromthe step for informing users of the existence/balance of the virtualaccount CV to the step for terminating the inbound communication on aselected terminal 3, followed by a new step for applying a discount tothe bill of the subscribed user 6 which originates a communication for avalue lower than, or equal to, the funds credited on the virtual accountCV of the subscribed user 6.

The present method might also comprise, in a more complete versionthereof, steps for the assignment of an appropriately provided operatorservice network identifier IO and for reporting to a user 4, 6 oftelecommunication services who originates a communication toward saidappropriately provided operator service network identifier IO theexistence and/or balance of the virtual account CV registered to thenetwork identifier originating communications IC.

Finally, other steps of the method can be provided advantageously to:receive instructions for debiting/crediting from said virtual account CVon the part of entities which can be associated with said virtualaccount CV; to establish which of said entities said network identifieroriginating communications IC is actually associable with; and to renderinterchangeable, within the central unit of the telecommunicationservice management system, all the network identifiers originatingcommunications IC and/or equivalent subscriber network identifiers IS.

Examples of Practical Embodiment of the Invention

In possible practical implementations of the invention, the Entities towhich the “Virtual Accounts” CV are assigned can use the credit whenthey establish a direct relation with the Operator (they subscribe).They can become aware of the existence of the “Virtual Account” CV bymeans of a message inserted before/at the beginning of/during/after theconversation with the subscriber 6 of the Operator, or by means of amessage which is sent in case of busy, or by means of a communication ora message originated by the Operator at a time subsequent to theconversation, or by SMS, e-mail or by messaging/advertising on anymedium which can reach the Entity to which the “Virtual Account” CV isregistered.

The Credit can be used for any purpose, but one of these purposes mightbe to allow the credit to be usable for the purchase of specificservices provided by the Operator.

Another form of practical application of the described invention entailsthat the crediting on the virtual account CV associated with the networkidentifier originating communications IC of another operator isperformed not only if the cost for terminating the communication to oneof the operator's own subscribers 6 has been lower than the fundscollected from the operator of the calling party (directly orindirectly), but in a fully arbitrary manner, in order to acquire newsubscribers who are interested in using a cheaper service. For example,Operator A might launch a campaign to acquire users of an Operator B:when a subscriber of Operator B calls a user of Operator A, Operator Acreates a virtual account CV registered to the subscriber of Operator Band reports this, as described above, before/at the beginningof/during/after the conversation with the subscriber of Operator B, orby means of a message which is sent if busy, or by means of acommunication or message originated by the Operator at a time which issubsequent to the conversation, or by means of an SMS, e-mail or bymessaging/advertising on any medium which can reach the Entity to whichthe “Virtual Account” CV is registered.

Therefore, in a different form of application, the virtual account CV iscreated and credited without the subscriber of Operator B calling asubscriber of Operator A.

In a further different form of application of the described invention,“Virtual Accounts” CV are created also for subscribed users 6 who belongto the same operator and already have a contractual relation with saidOperator.

In yet another different form of application, the existence of a virtualaccount CV might be reported at the end of a communication from asubscribed user 6 of Operator A to a subscriber 4 of Operator B.

In all the cases described above, it is also possible to use algorithms(for example, see steps 4100, 6100, 7630, 15400, 16100, 16300, 16500,16700, 16900) to minimize annoyance caused by communications of theexistence of the virtual account CV, which are described below.

In the specific example of practical embodiment of the inventiondescribed here, which is merely a non-limiting example:

-   -   the inbound and outbound communications between terminals 3 of        users of telecommunication services consist of telephone calls;    -   the subscriber network identifiers IS and the network        identifiers originating communications IC are telephone numbers;    -   the credit managed by the Virtual Accounts CV consists of        monetary funds;    -   the operator offers to its subscribers 6 the Follow Me Unique        Number service, by means of which a single telephone number        allows the termination of every inbound communication routed        thereto toward one among a plurality of terminals 3 of the        subscriber 6, furthermore giving priority to the terminals 3        having lower call termination costs and, for equal costs,        depending on the preference expressed beforehand by the        subscriber 6;    -   the terminals 3 of the recipients of the phone calls may be        fixed telephones, mobile/cellular telephones, fixed telephones        with VOIP, Internet terminals with VOIP, mobile/cellular        telephones with VOIP;    -   a subscribed user 6 may be the registrant of a plurality of        subscriber network identifiers IS, but only one set of terminals        3, which he reports to the operator, can correspond thereto;    -   only cases in which the call toward the operator's own        subscriber 6 originates from another operator are considered,        and it is assumed that third-party operators pay to the operator        a termination tariff as compensation for the termination of        calls on its network (termination regime, not origination        regime);    -   it is assumed that all third-party operators pay the same        termination tariff to the operator for each given subscriber        number;    -   if the cost for terminating a call is higher than the        termination tariff, the call is terminated only if the called        party accepts to cover at least the difference;    -   the virtual account CV associated with a network identifier        originating communications IC is supplied by virtue of part of        the difference between the operator's revenue for inbound calls        from said identifier and the cost for terminating said calls;    -   part of the difference between the costs and revenues of the        telephone calls toward a given subscribed user 6 is reserved for        said user, and the subscribed user 6 receives from the operator        information in this regard;    -   the existence/balance of the virtual account CV is reported to        the user 4, 6 who originates the call by means of audio messages        before, during or after the call, or by means of messages sent        by virtue of other means after the telephone call;    -   the operator provides the subscriber 6 voicemail service, and        this service is configured appropriately so as to report to the        calling party the existence/balance of the virtual account CV        associated with the number of the calling party;    -   algorithms are implemented for limiting the annoyance caused to        said calling party according to preset rules.

The implementations of the mechanisms for:

-   -   creating and managing an appropriate operator service network        identifier IO with which users 4, 6 can establish communications        in order to receive information regarding the existence and/or        balance of the virtual account CV assigned to a network        identifier originating communications IC;    -   informing the calling parties 4, 6 of the existence and/or        balance of the virtual account CV during call setup before the        tariff charging of said call begins (for example in the “Early        Media” step related to the SIP protocol, or in the case of the        ISDN ITU-T Q.931 protocol after selection is complete and before        the CONNECT);    -   deducting from the virtual accounts CV any funds to cover the        negative difference between the revenues and the costs of calls        terminated by the operator;    -   managing the third-party payment system and the corresponding        systems for receiving debiting and crediting orders, calculating        and applying the commissions to the paying party and to the paid        party, checking the availability of sufficient funds, and        reporting the outcome of the operation;    -   checking which entities are entities which are associable with        the network identifiers originating communications IC to which        virtual accounts CV are registered, and optionally authorizing        them to access for orders said virtual accounts CV;    -   rendering interchangeable the values of network identifiers        originating communications IC which are equivalent or associable        with a same entity;    -   giving an incentive to entities associable with network        identifiers originating communications IC with which virtual        accounts CV are associated and that do not already have direct        relations with the operator to become subscribers 6 of the        operator, also by virtue of conditional access to the credit;

shall be as described in sufficient detail so that the person skilled inthe art to whom all the technical means currently in use are known canimplement them as described in the preceding description.

FIG. 3 illustrates the main steps for performing the method according tothe invention, which include routines which can be run on the equipmentof the central unit 1 to manage the inbound calls toward the telephonenumbers assigned to the subscribed users 6 of the operator. In step 100,it is assumed that an inbound telephone call arrives. In step 200, thecalled telephone number, hereinafter termed called party, is identified.Once the called party has been recognized, in step 250 a search is runfor said called party within the “CALLED NUMBERS DATABASE”, which isrepresented graphically in the Annexes at the end of the description,and more precisely a SELECT is made on the “CALLED_NUMBERS” table, withthe following clause where CALLED_NUMBERS.CalledNumber=called party. Atthis point, step 300 checks whether the called party is associated witha user 6. If the called number has not been assigned to any user, themethod proceeds with step 400, by means of which a signal indicating anon-existent number is sent to the party who generated the call,hereinafter referenced as calling party, and in this case the algorithmends.

If step 300 has verified that the called number is assigned to a user,the method proceeds with step 500, in which the number of the callingparty is classified by means of the “CLASSIFY CALLER” procedure, shownin FIG. 4. Once the number of the caller has been classified, the methodproceeds to step 600, where the procedure “FIND BEST TERMINAL TO REACHCALLED PARTY NUMBER”, FIG. 5, checks the best device on which the calledparty can be contacted.

The method then moves on to step 700, which checks whether it has beenpossible to contact the called party by means of the procedure executedin step 600. If the called party can be reached, then step 800 executesthe procedure “MANAGE CALL COMPUTE CREDIT AND COMMUNICATE PROMOTIONALINFO” FIG. 6, by means of which the call is managed. Once the procedureexecuted in step 800 has been exited, the algorithm ends. If, in step700, the called party is not reachable, the method proceeds with step900, which checks whether the called party has a voicemail service. Ifthe called party does not have a voicemail service, the method proceedswith step 1100, which sends a busy signal to the calling party. Once thebusy signal has been generated, the algorithm ends. If step 900 hasverified that the called party has a voicemail service, step 1000executes the procedure “MANAGE VOICEMAIL AND COMMUNICATE PROMOTIONALINFO”, FIG. 7, by means of which the voicemail service is managed.

At the end of the procedure performed in step 1000, the method proceedsto step 1200, by means of which the caller is disconnected from thenetwork. At this point the algorithm ends.

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the “CLASSIFY CALLER” procedure. Asa first operation, in step 1300 the telephone number of the caller isrequested to read from the network (i.e., the connection means 2). Atthis point, step 1400 checks whether the telephone number of the calleris obtainable. If this data item is not obtainable, the method proceedswith step 1500, by means of which the value of “CALLING PARTY ADDRESSNOT RECOGNIZED” is returned to the main routine. If step 1400 hasverified that the telephone number of the caller is obtainable, themethod proceeds with step 1600, which searches for the existence of thedata related to the caller within the “CALLING PARTY” database, which isrepresented graphically in the annexes at the end of the description.

The operation is performed by means of a SELECT on the“CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, with the following where clause,CALLINGPARTYDATA.CallerId=caller.

The method moves on to step 1700, which checks whether the number of thecaller has been found within the “CALLINGPARTYDATA” table. If the numberof the caller has not been found, the method moves on to step 1800, bymeans of which the telephone number of the calling party is insertedwithin the “CALLING PARTY” database. The operation consists in enteringthe data related to the caller in the CALLINGPARTYDATA table, and inopening a new “virtual account” CV within the CALLINGPARTYACCOUNTStable, which stores the credit associated with each calling number. Atthe end of this operation, the method moves on to step 1900, by means ofwhich the data related to the calling number and the values related toits “virtual account” CV are returned to the main routine. If, in step1700, the availability of the calling number has been verified, themethod proceeds with step 1900, which returns to the main routine thedata related to the calling number together with the values of theassociated “virtual account” CV.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the “FIND BEST TERMINAL TO REACHCALLING PARTY NUMBER” procedure 600. Step 2000 selects from the“CUSTOMERTERMINALS” table the terminals associated with the called party(which the called party indicated beforehand) and orders them accordingto the fields Available, then TariffToTerminate in ascending order andthen UserPreference in descending order. In step 2010, the firstterminal of the selection made in step 2000 is “pointed” to. Step 2100checks whether the terminal “pointed” to in the list generated in step2000 exists. If it does not exist, the method moves on to step 3200,which exits from the procedure returning the value of “NO TERMINALFOUND” to the main routine. If in step 2100 the terminal exists, themethod proceeds with step 2200, which checks whether the cost to contactthe terminal (TariffToTerminate field of the “CUSTOMERTERMINALS” table)is higher than the value granted to the operator for terminating thecall on his own network (NetInbound field of the “CALLEDNUMBERS” table,obtained in step 250). If the cost for contacting the terminal is higherthan the value granted to the operator, the method moves on to step2300, which checks whether the called party is willing to pay for thecall. If the called party is not willing to pay for the call, the methodmoves on to step 2050, which “points” to the next terminal in theselection made in step 2000, and the method proceeds with step 2100,already described earlier, which checks whether said terminal exists. Ifstep 2300 has verified that the called party is willing to pay for thecall, or if in step 2200 the cost to contact the terminal is lower thanthe value granted to the operator for terminating the call on his ownnetwork, the method proceeds with step 2400, which calls the terminal.The method then proceeds with step 2500, which checks whether the calledterminal is ringing. If the terminal is not ringing, the method proceedswith step 2700, which checks whether the calling party is still on theline. If the calling party is no longer on the line, the method proceedswith step 3200 (already described earlier). If step 2700 has verifiedthat the calling party is still on the line, the method then returns tostep 2050 (already described earlier).

If step 2500 has verified that the terminal is ringing, the methodproceeds with step 2600, which checks whether the called party hasaccepted the call. If the called party accepts the call, the methodproceeds with step 2800, which returns the “TERMINAL CONNECTED” value tothe main routine. If step 2600 has verified that the called party hasnot yet accepted the call, the method proceeds with step 2900, whichchecks whether the called party has refused the call. If the calledparty refuses the call, the method returns to step 2050 (alreadydescribed earlier) to check whether there are other terminals to becontacted. If step 2900 has verified that the called party has notrefused the call, the method proceeds with step 3100, which checkswhether the timeout associated with the time for accepting the call bythe called party on a given terminal has expired. If the timeout hasexpired, the method proceeds with step 3300, which drops the call towardthe terminal and then returns to step 2050 (already described earlier).If step 3100 has verified that the timeout associated with the callacceptance time has not expired, the method returns to step 2600(already described earlier).

FIG. 6 illustrates the operation of the procedure “MANAGE CALL COMPUTECREDIT AND COMMUNICATE PROMOTIONAL INFO” 800. In step 4000, the variableTIME_START is set to the current time. In step 4050, the system answersthe call. Step 4100 checks whether, on the basis of a processing of thedata which indicate the settings of the caller (data already obtained bylookup in the “CALLINGPARTYDATA” table by using as key the CallerIDfield, within the “CLASSIFY CALLER” procedure), a promotional audiomessage has to be played. If a promotional audio message has to beplayed, the method moves on to step 4200, by means of which the systemplays the message. Here, both when step 4100 has verified that apromotional message must not be played and when arriving from step 4200,the method proceeds to step 4250, by means of which the variableANSWERED BY VOICEMAIL is set to FALSE.

The method then proceeds with step 4300, by means of which the callerand the called party are connected. The method then proceeds with step4400, which checks whether the called party has hung up. If the calledparty has not hung up, the method proceeds with step 4500, which checkswhether the calling party has hung up. If the calling party has not hungup, the method returns to step 4400. If step 4400 checks that the calledparty has hung up, the method proceeds with step 4420, by means of whichthe TIME_END variable is set to the current time. The method proceedswith step 4440, which executes the “POST CALL CREDIT UPDATE ANDCOMMUNICATION” procedure 4440 described in FIG. 8. At the end of thisprocedure, the method moves on to step 4460, which returns to the mainroutine the CALLED PARTY HUNG UP value. If step 4500 has verified thatthe calling party has hung up, the method moves to step 4550, by meansof which the TIME_END variable is set to the current time. The methodproceeds with step 4600, which executes the “POST CALL CREDIT UPDATE ANDCOMMUNICATION” procedure described in FIG. 8. At the end of thisprocedure, the method moves on to step 4700, which returns to the mainroutine the CALLING PARTY HUNG UP value. FIG. 7 a-c shows, in threeseparate parts which can be assembled according to the branchesdesignated by the reference letters A to O, the operation of the “MANAGEVOICEMAIL AND COMMUNICATE PROMOTIONAL INFO” procedure 1000. In step6050, the variable ANSWERED BY VOICEMAIL is set to TRUE. In step 6000,the call is answered. Step 6100 checks whether a promotional message hasto be played to the caller on the basis of the information previouslyreturned by the CLASSIFY CALLER procedure. If it has been verified thatit is necessary to play a promotional message, the method proceeds withstep 6200, by means of which the system plays the message.

At the end of the playback, the system updates the AudioPromotionStatstable with the data related to the playback of the promotional message.At this point, both when arriving from step 6200 and whether step 6100has verified that it is not necessary to play back a promotionalmessage, the method proceeds with step 6300. At this point the systemplays back the welcome message of the called party, which can beoptionally personalized.

At the end of the playback of the welcome message, the method proceedswith step 6400, by means of which the system invites the caller torecord the message after the audio signal and plays back to the callingparty the first menu, which informs said calling party that at the endof the recording he can hang up or press 1 to save the message, press 2to listen to the recorded message, press 3 to save the message andlisten to the information related to the credit registered to thetelephone number of the caller. In step 6500, the recording of themessage of the caller begins. The method then proceeds with step 6600,which checks whether the caller has hung up.

If the caller has hung up, the method proceeds with step 8100, by meansof which the message left by the caller is recorded in the mailbox ofthe called party. Step 8200 executes the “POST CALL CREDIT UPDATE ANDCOMMUNICATION” procedure indicated in FIG. 8. At this point, the methodproceeds with step 9800, which returns to the main routine. If step 6600has verified that the caller has not hung up, the method proceeds withstep 6700, which checks whether the caller has pressed 1 or whether thetimeout associated with the recording of the message has expired. If oneof these two conditions has occurred, the method proceeds with step7000, which interrupts the recording of the message to be left in thevoicemail.

The method then moves on to step 7500, in which the second menu isplayed back to the caller, inviting the caller to press 2 to listen tothe recorded message, 3 to save the message and listen to informationrelated to the credit associated with the calling telephone number, 4 torecord a new message, or 0 to quit. At this point, the method proceedswith step 7700, which checks whether the caller has hung up. If thecaller has hung up, the method proceeds with step 8100 (alreadydescribed earlier).

If step 7700 has verified that the caller has not hung up, step 7900checks whether the caller has pressed 2. If the caller has not pressed2, the method proceeds with step 8000, which checks whether the callerhas pressed 3. If the caller has not pressed 3, the method proceeds withstep 8500, which checks whether the caller has pressed 4. If the callerhas not pressed 4, the method proceeds with step 8700, which checkswhether the caller has pressed 0. If the caller has not pressed 0, themethod proceeds with step 8800, which checks whether the timeout set forwaiting for a choice by the caller has expired. If the timeout has notexpired, the method returns to step 7700. If the timeout checked in step8800 has expired, the method moves on to step 7630, which checks whethera promotional message is to be sent to the caller. If a promotionalmessage is not to be sent, the method proceeds with step 7800, by meansof which the call is dropped. Once the call has been dropped, the methodproceeds with step 8100 (already described earlier). If step 7630 hasverified that a promotional message is to be played, the method proceedswith step 7650, which plays a promotional message. Once the message hasbeen played, the method proceeds with step 7800 (already describedearlier). If step 8000 has verified that the caller has pressed 3, themethod proceeds with step 7450, which calculates the amount of creditassociated with the calling telephone number, calculated according tothe following formula:

Given:

M=Margin Available (euros)

A=TIME END (seconds from Epoch, i.e., usually Jan. 1, 1970)

B=TIME START (seconds from Epoch)

D=Value of the NetInbound field of the “CALLEDNUMBERS” table, expressedin euros per second

E=Percentage of M granted to the caller

F=Value of previously accumulated credit (euro)

M=(A−B)*D

Caller Credit=(M*E)+F

Once the credit has been calculated, the method moves on to step 7600,by means of which the value of the calculated credit is reported to thecaller. Once the credit has been reported to the customer, the methodproceeds with step 7630 (already described earlier).

If step 8500 has verified that the caller has pressed 4, the methodproceeds with step 8600, which plays to the caller the third menu, whichinvites the caller to press 1 to save the message, 2 to listen to therecorded message, 3 to save the message and listen to informationrelated to the credit associated with the calling telephone number, 4 torecord a new message, or 0 to quit. At this point, the method proceedswith step 9000, which checks whether the caller has hung up. If thecaller has not hung up, the method proceeds with step 9100, which checkswhether the caller has pressed 0. If the caller has not pressed 0, themethod proceeds with step 9200, which checks whether the caller haspressed 1. If the caller has not pressed 1, the method proceeds withstep 9300, which checks whether the caller has pressed 2. If the callerhas not pressed 2, the method proceeds with step 9400, which checkswhether the caller has pressed 3. If the caller has not pressed 3, themethod proceeds with step 9500, which checks whether the caller haspressed 4. If the caller has not pressed 4, the method proceeds withstep 9600, which checks whether the timeout set for waiting for a choiceby the caller has expired. If the timeout set for waiting for a choiceby the caller has not expired, the method proceeds with step 9000(already described earlier). If step 9600 has verified that the timeoutset for waiting for a choice by the caller has expired, the methodproceeds with step 7630 (already described earlier). If step 9400 hasverified that the caller has pressed 3, the method proceeds with step7450 (already described earlier). If step 9300 has verified that thecaller has pressed 2, the method proceeds with step 8400, by means ofwhich the system plays the message just recorded by the caller. Once themessage has been played, the method proceeds with step 8600 (alreadydescribed earlier). If step 9200 has verified that the caller haspressed 1, the method proceeds with step 8100 (already describedearlier). If in step 9100 the caller pressed 0, the method proceeds withstep 7630 (already described earlier). If in step 9000 the caller hashung up, the method proceeds with step 8100 (already described earlier).

Previously, after the step 8500, if step 8700 has verified that thecaller has pressed 0, the method proceeds with step 7630 (alreadydescribed earlier).

If step 6700 has not verified that the caller pressed 1 or the timeoutset for recording the message has not expired, the method proceeds withstep 6800, which checks whether the caller has pressed 2. If the callerhas pressed 2, the method proceeds with step 7100, which interrupts therecording of the message left by the caller. The method here proceedwith step 8400 (already described earlier).

If step 6800 has verified that the caller has not pressed 2, the methodproceeds with step 6900, which checks whether the caller has pressed 3.If the customer has pressed 3, the method proceeds with step 7200, whichinterrupts the recording of the message left by the caller. At thispoint, the method proceeds with step 7400, which plays the message justleft by the caller. Once the message has been played, the methodcontinues with step 7450 (already described earlier).

If step 6900 has verified that the caller has not pressed 3, the methodproceeds with step 6600 (already described earlier).

FIG. 8 illustrates the operation of the “POST CALL CREDIT UPDATE ANDCOMMUNICATION” procedure 4600. Step 15000 checks the value of the creditacknowledged for the last call to the caller and optionally to thecalled party. Calculation is performed as follows:

Given:

M=Margin Available

A=TIME END (seconds from Epoch)

B=TIME START (seconds from Epoch)

C=Value of the TariffToTerminate field of the “CUSTOMERTERMINALS” table,(euros/sec)

D=Value of the NetInbound field of the “CALLEDNUMBERS” table,(euros/sec)

E=Percentage of M granted to the caller

F=Value of previously accumulated credit (euro)

G=Percentage of M granted to called party

M=(A−B)*(D−C)

Caller Credit=(M*E)+F

Called Party Credit=(M*G)+F

The method then proceeds with step 15100, by means of which the value ofthe total credit accumulated in the virtual account CV associated withthe telephone number of the caller (Credit field in the“CALLINGPARTYACCOUNTS” table) is updated. The method then proceeds withstep 15200, which checks whether the calling party has hung up. If thecalling party has hung up, the method proceeds with step 15300, whichchecks whether the call was transferred to the voicemail service. If thecall has not been passed to the voicemail service, the method proceedswith step 15500, which checks whether the called party agreed to receivepromotional messages. If the called party agreed to receive promotionalmessages, step 15700 is performed and plays the promotional message tothe called party.

The method then moves on to step 15900, which disconnects the calledparty. The method then proceeds with step 16100, which checks whether itis necessary, on the basis of the parameters that are present in the“CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, to send an SMS message to the calling party.If an SMS message is to be sent to the calling party, step 16200 isperformed, which sends the SMS message and introduces a new record inthe “SMSPROMOTIONSSTATS” table. At the end of step 16200, or if step16100 has verified that it is not necessary to send an SMS message tothe calling party, the method proceeds with step 16300, which checkswhether, on the basis of the parameters that are present in the“CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, it is necessary to send an e-mail message tothe calling party. If it is necessary to send an e-mail message to thecalling party, the method proceeds with step 16400, which sends thee-mail message and enters a new record in the “EMAILPROMOTIONSSTATS”table. At the end of step 16400, or if step 16300 has verified that itis not necessary to send an e-mail message to the calling party, themethod proceeds with step 16500, which checks whether, on the basis ofthe parameters that are present in the “CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, it isnecessary to send an IRC message to the calling party. If it isnecessary to send an IRC message to the calling party, the step 16600 isperformed, sending the IRC message and entering a new record in the“IMPROMOTIONSSTATS” table. At the end of step 16600, or if step 16500has verified that it is not necessary to send an IRC message to thecalling party, the method proceeds with step 16700, which checkswhether, on the basis of the parameters that are present in the“CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, it is necessary to send a VOIP message to thecalling party.

If it is necessary to send a VOIP message to the calling party, themethod proceeds with step 16800, which sends the VOIP message and entersa new record in the “VOIPPROMOTIONSSTATS” table. At the end of step16800, or if step 16700 has verified that it is not necessary to send aVOIP message to the calling party, the method proceeds with step 16900,which checks whether, on the basis of the parameters that are present inthe “CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, it is necessary to send a message bytraditional mail to the calling party.

If it is necessary to send a message by traditional mail to the callingparty, the step 17000 is performed by means of which the traditionalmail message is sent and a new record in the “POSTALPROMOTIONSSTATS”table is entered.

At the end of step 17000, or if in step 16900 it has been found that itis not necessary to send a traditional post message to the callingparty, the procedure quits.

Going back to step 15200, if it has been found that the calling partyhas not hung up, the method proceeds with step 15400, which checkswhether, on the basis of the parameters that are present in the“CALLINGPARTYDATA” table, it is necessary to play an audio message tothe calling party. If it is necessary to play an audio message to thecalling party, step 15600 is performed and plays the audio message andenters a new record in the “AUDIOPROMOTIONSSTATS” table. At the end ofstep 15600 or if in step 15400 it has been found that it is notnecessary to play an audio message to the calling party, step 15800 isperformed, by means of which the calling party is disconnected. Once thecalling party has been disconnected, the step 16100 (already describedearlier) is performed.

If step 15500 has verified that the called party has not agreed toreceive promotional messages, or if step 15300 has verified that thesystem has not answered by means of the voicemail service, step 16100(already described earlier) is performed.

In practice it has thus been found that the described system and methodaccording to the invention provide means which are efficient for thetelecommunication service Operator and also beneficial to users forovercoming the difficulties arising from the technical and regulatoryinflexibilities that prevent the provision of variable tariffs at agiven time, on a call by call basis, toward a given number. Thesedifficulties are overcome simply, transparently and inexpensively bymeans of the described mechanism, which allows a compensation whoseeffects are equivalent to the sought tariff change to callers,regardless of whether they already have previously established directrelations with the operator of the called party or not.

Another object which has been achieved is to provide a new system andmethod for managing improved telecommunication services which allowconsiderable saving on advertising costs for increasing an operator'susers, with consequent positive effects on customer acquisition andmanagement costs and tariffs.

An important object which has been achieved is that of providing a newsystem and method for managing improved telecommunication services whichfacilitates a quick increase in the number of users by virtue of thedissemination, without additional means and expenses, by one's ownsubscribed users and/or by the operator, of the corresponding networkidentifiers required to be contacted and/or by virtue of the reportingof the existence of compensations which have been accrued by thirdparties by using the service of said operator.

The benefits of the new management system and method according to theinvention are even more evident if one considers the cash flow trend andthe business risk. With traditional methods, an operator must firstinvest in a massive communication campaign and it will reap users onlyafterwards. Marketing and sales costs must be borne in advance and thereis no assurance that the investment will lead to the acquisition of anumber of customers sufficient to cover the initial cash outlay. Withthe methods proposed here, the Operator minimizes initial marketing andsales costs and thus limits the initial negative cash flow. The Creditsubsequently “consumed” by customers does not entail any furthernegative cash flow, since in this embodiment this credit is financed bythe positive cash flows already received by the Operator (due to thedifference between revenue and cost for allowing its own users to bereached by callers) even before they are used by the new customers. Inthis manner, the capital at risk for acquiring a large number of usersis reduced to the capital required to acquire a much smaller initialnumber of customers, with an evident reduction of business risk.

Another object achieved by the invention is to provide a new system andmethod for the management of improved telecommunication services whichdespite being secure to use also allow reliable identification of theusers who access the services or wish to access them.

Another object achieved by the invention is to provide a third-partypayment service which benefits from the limited credit checking coststypical of systems based on prepayment by users, but at the same timewhich does not require prior contact between the operator and the useror, even more so, direct contact between them to make a prepayment,which can be expensive.

The “virtual accounts” CV accessible to the end users in fact also havethe benefit of facilitating payment operations of any kind if theOperator acts as an intermediary for paying third parties on behalf ofthe user. For example, the Operator can provide a third-party paymentservice similar to PayPal®, or make an agreement with a provider of aservice of this kind, by drawing from the “Virtual Accounts” CV tocollect the funds required for payment, optionally with theauthorization of the registrant of the “Virtual Account” CV. The factthat the “Virtual Account” CV is created with negligible costs and canbe accessed easily via data communications systems makes it moreconvenient to use a similar system also for micropayments.

Differently from other incentive systems based on Credits, the Operatorruns no risk linked to the cost of the Credit offered to the customer,since in actual fact the Credit credited to the “Virtual Account”associated with the network identifier originating communications isusually, although variations are possible, equal to or lower than thedifference already cashed in by the operator between what the operatorinvoices (which in turn is paid indirectly by the calling party) and thecost borne by the operator in each instance to reach the called party.The indirect source of credit is the calling party himself, not theOperator. In this way, the Operator acquires new customers by offeringthem a monetary benefit which has already been financed by suchprospective clients.

The method and the system conceived are susceptible of modifications andvariations which are evident to the person skilled in the art and areall within the scope of the appended claims.

All the details, such as the described means of the system and the meansfor implementing the methods, devices, routines and others, may furtherbe replaced with other technically equivalent ones and depending on thestate of the art, selected for example, but not only, depending on thetype of terminals most used in a geographical region or country and onthe rules and standards in force at a given time.

All these variations, which are obvious to the person skilled in theart, are understood to be comprised within the protective scope of theappended claims.

Where technical features mentioned in the claims are followed byreference signs, those reference signs have been included for the solepurpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordinglysuch reference signs do not have any limiting effect on theinterpretation of each element identified by way of example by suchreference signs.

Annex

-   CALLED NUMBERS DATABASE

TABLE CALLEDNUMBERS CUSTOMERID NUMBER CALLEDNUMBER STRING VOICEMAIL BOOLNETINBOUND NUMBER

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CUSTOMERID: SUBSCRIBED USER IDENTIFICATION CODE-   CALLED NUMBER: TELEPHONE NUMBER ASSIGNED TO THE SUBSCRIBER-   NETINBOUND: VALUE WHICH CAN BE INVOICED BY OPERATOR TO OTHER    OPERATORS FOR TERMINATION OF CALLS TOWARD CALLEDNUMBER

TABLE CUSTOMERTERMINALS CUSTOMERID NUMBER TERMINALTYPE STRINGTERMINALNUMBER BOOL AVAILABLE NUMBER USERPREFERENCE NUMBERTARIFFTOTERMINATE STRING

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION: MULTIPLE RECORDS CAN MATCH A GIVEN CUSTOMERID,    EACH RECORD CONTAINING THE DETAILS OF A SPECIFIC TERMINAL ON WHICH    THE SUBSCRIBER CAN BE REACHED THE SUBSCRIBER CAN CHANGE OR EXTEND    THE LIST OF TERMINALS VIA WEB, IVR, MAIL, SMS INTERFACES ETC.-   CUSTOMERID: SUBSCRIBED USER IDENTIFICATION CODE-   TERMINALTYPE: TYPE OF TERMINAL (MOBILE/FIXED/VOIP . . . )-   TERMINALNUMBER: TERMINAL IDENTIFIER OR NUMBER-   AVAILABLE: INDICATES WHETHER THE USER IS AVAILABLE TO RECEIVE CALLS    ON THE TERMINAL. POSSIBLE VALUES ARE YES/NO/UNDEFINED-   USERPREFERENCE: LEVEL OF PREFERENCE EXPRESSED BY SUBSCRIBER TO    RECEIVE A CALL ON THE TERMINAL.-   TARIFFTOTERMINATE: COST INCURRED BY THE OPERATOR FOR TERMINATING    CALLS TOWARD TERMINALNUMBER-   CALLING PARTY DATABASE

TABLE CALLINGPARTYDATA CALLERID STRING CALLEDACCOUNT NUMBER AUDIODNDBOOL MAILDND BOOL SMSDND BOOL IRCDND BOOL VOIPDND BOOL EMAILADDRESSSTRING SMSADDRESS STRING IRCADDRESS STRING VOIPADDRESS STRINGPOSTADDRESS STRING

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERID: NUMBER OF CALLER-   CALLEDACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   AUDIODND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY AUDIO?-   MAILDND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY MAIL?-   SMSDND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY SMS?-   IRCDND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY IRC?-   VOIPDND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY VOIP?-   POSTDND: DOES CALLER WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY TRADITIONAL POST?-   EMAILADDRESS: E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR CONTACT-   SMSADDRESS: TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR CONTACT BY SMS-   IRCADDRESS: IRC ACCOUNT FOR CONTACT-   VOIPADDRESS: VOIP TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR CONTACT-   POSTALADDRESS: TRADITIONAL MAIL ADDRESS FOR CONTACT

TABLE CALLINGPARTYACCOUNTS CALLERID STRING CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER CREDITNUMBER CUSTOMERID NUMBER

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERID: NUMBER OF CALLER-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   CREDIT: VALUE OF CREDIT AVAILABLE ON VIRTUAL ACCOUNT-   CUSTOMERID: IDENTIFICATION CODE OF SUBSCRIBED USER (SET IF VIRTUAL    ACCOUNT HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH AN ENTITY WHICH IS A SUBSCRIBED    USER)

TABLE AUDIOPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER AUDIOCONTENT BLOBTIMESTAMP DATETIME

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   AUDIOCONTENT: CONTENT OF SENT AUDIO MESSAGE-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN AUDIO MESSAGE WAS SENT

TABLE EMAILPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER EMAILADDRESS STRINGEMAILCONTENTS BLOB TIMESTAMP DATETIME OPENED BOOL CLICKED BOOL REPLIEDBOOL

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   EMAILADDRESS: E-MAIL ADDRESS TO WHICH THE PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE WAS    SENT-   EMAILCONTENT: CONTENT OF E-MAIL MESSAGE-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN E-MAIL MESSAGE WAS SENT-   OPENED: WAS E-MAIL MESSAGE OPENED?-   CLICKED: DID RECIPIENT CLICK ON LINKS PRESENT IN THE E-MAIL MESSAGE?-   REPLIED: DID RECIPIENT ANSWER THE E-MAIL MESSAGE?

TABLE SMSPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER PHONENUMBER STRINGSMSCONTENTS STRING TIMESTAMP DATETIME RECEIVED BOOL REPLIED BOOL

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   PHONENUMBER: TELEPHONE NUMBER TO WHICH THE PROMOTIONAL SMS MESSAGE    WAS SENT-   SMSCONTENT: CONTENT OF E-MAIL MESSAGE-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN SMS MESSAGE WAS SENT-   RECEIVED: DID RECIPIENT RECEIVE THE SMS MESSAGE?-   REPLIED: DID RECIPIENT ANSWER THE SMS MESSAGE?

TABLE IMPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER IRCADDRESS STRINGMESSAGECONTENTS BLOB TIMESTAMP DATETIME REPLIED BOOL

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   IRCADDRESS: IRC ADDRESS TO WHICH THE PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE WAS SENT-   MESSAGECONTENT: CONTENT OF SENT IRC MESSAGE-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN IRC MESSAGE WAS SENT-   REPLIED: DID RECIPIENT ANSWER THE IRC MESSAGE?

TABLE VOIPPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER VOIPADDRESS STRINGEMAILCONTENTS BOOL TIMESTAMP DATETIME

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   VOIPADDRESS: VOIP NUMBER TO WHICH THE PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE WAS SENT-   MESSAGECONTENT: CONTENT OF SENT MESSAGE-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN MESSAGE WAS SENT

TABLE POSTALPROMOTIONSSTATS CALLERACCOUNT NUMBER POSTALADDRESS STRINGLETTERSENT BOOL TIMESTAMP DATETIME

-   FIELD DESCRIPTION-   CALLERACCOUNT: VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER-   POSTALADDRESS: MAIL ADDRESS TO WHICH THE PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE WAS    SENT-   LETTERSENT: WAS MESSAGE SENT?-   TIMESTAMP: DATE AND TIME WHEN MESSAGE WAS SENT

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for creating a variable andprogressively incremental group of users of telecommunication servicesprovided by an operator by assigning subscriber network identifiers(IS), comprising the steps for: a) acquiring an initial number ofsubscribed users; b) assigning to each subscribed user of said initialgroup of subscribed users respective subscriber network identifiers(IS); c) notifying said subscriber network identifiers (IS) to currentand potential users; d) monitoring inbound communications toward saidsubscriber network identifiers (IS) in order to identify inbound networkidentifiers originating communications (IC); e) creating, as aconsequence of a communication originated from a said network identifieroriginating communications (IC) toward at least one of the assignedsubscriber network identifiers (IS), a virtual account (CV) which isregistered to said network identifier originating communications (IC);and f) informing users of telecommunication services of the existenceand/or balance of the virtual account (CV) registered to the networkidentifier originating communications (IC).
 2. The method according toclaim 1, wherein step f) comprises informing of the existence and/orbalance of the virtual account (CV) registered to the network identifieroriginating communications (IC) at least the user of telecommunicationservices to which said network identifier originating communications isassigned (IC).
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step b)for assigning subscriber network identifiers (IS) comprises assigning tothe subscribed user a single subscriber network identifier (IS) whichallows the termination of communications toward it on any one of aplurality of telecommunication terminals.
 4. The method according toclaim 3, comprising the steps for: g) selecting, by virtue of the meansfor selective termination of inbound communications, the terminals onwhich the inbound communication is to terminate according to a presetalgorithm (AR0); h) selecting, by virtue of the means for selectivetermination of inbound communications, among said terminals selected inthe preceding step, only the telecommunications terminals on which thesubscribed user can receive the inbound communication; i) terminatingsaid inbound communication on a telecommunication terminal among theones selected in the preceding step.
 5. The method according to claim 4,wherein said preset algorithm (AR0) performs operations to minimizetermination costs by establishing a sequence of priorities on the basisof termination costs.
 6. The method according to claim 4, furthercomprising the steps for: j) calculating, by means of tariff calculationmeans, a difference between what can be and/or is invoiced by theoperator that provides the telecommunication services for acommunication and the cost to the operator for terminating saidcommunication.
 7. The method according to claim 6, comprising the stepfor: k) crediting to said virtual account (CV) funds which correspond toall or part of the difference calculated in said calculation step (j), afixed value assigned by the operator for each minute of conversationthat occurs as a consequence of the inbound communication, or a fixedvalue established arbitrarily by the operator regardless of whether acommunication occurs or not.
 8. The method according to claim 7,comprising the step for informing the user who originates thecommunication, by virtue of said information means, of the amount of thecredit that is the result of the funds credited to the virtual account(CV).
 9. The method according to claim 8, comprising the step m) forincreasing the number of subscribed users with new users to which newsubscriber network identifiers (IS) are assigned according to a new stepb); and then continuing with a new step c) for notifying the newlyassigned subscriber network identifiers (IS) to current and potentialusers.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein steps b)-m) can berepeated cyclically whenever an inbound communication from a networkidentifier originating communications (IC) occurs toward one of thesubscribed users to which a subscriber network identifier (IS) isassigned.
 11. The method according to claim 9, comprising: the step n)for communicating to the operator, on the part of the subscribed user towhich a single subscriber network identifier is registered, a list ofthe telecommunications terminals on which he will be reachable by meansof said single subscriber network identifier (IS); and the step o) forassociating said telecommunication terminals to the single subscribernetwork identifier (IS), the steps n) and o) being executable before thebeginning of each step c).
 12. The method according to claim 11, whereinstep e) comprises creating a virtual account (CV) which is registered toa potential user outside the group of subscribed users even before saiduser originates the communication toward a subscriber network identifier(IS).
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein step e) provides forthe creation of virtual accounts (CV) which belong to subscriber networkidentifiers (IS) of the same operator.
 14. The method according to claim13, wherein step e) is followed by the subsequent steps f)-i), followedby a step p) for applying a discount to the bill of the subscribed userwho originates a communication for a value which is lower than, or equalto, the funds credited on the virtual account (CV) of the subscribeduser.
 15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the stepfor q) receiving orders to debit to/credit from said virtual account(CV) on the part of entities.
 16. The method according to claim 15,comprising the step for r) establishing to which of said entities saidnetwork identifier originating communications (IC) is actuallyassociable.
 17. The method according to claim 16, comprising the stepfor s) rendering interchangeable, inside the central unit of thetelecommunication service management system, all network identifiersoriginating communications (IC) and/or subscriber network identifiers(IS) which are equivalent.
 18. The method according to claim 1,comprising the step of assigning an appropriately provided operatorservice network identifier (IO) and the step of reporting to a user oftelecommunication services which originates a communication toward saidappropriately provided operator service network identifier (IO) theexistence and/or balance of said virtual account (CV) registered to thenetwork identifier originating communications (IC).
 19. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein step f) comprises employing informationmeans which are adapted to inform, by virtue of audio and/or spokenand/or visual messages, the user of the existence and/or balance of saidvirtual account (CV), said information means comprising a specializedroutine (AR3) loaded in an electronic computer.
 20. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein step e) comprises employing specialized routines(AR1, AR5, AR6) which are loaded in a central unit.